Adding-machine.



No. 638,252. Patented Dec. 5, |899. E. LE FEVRE.

ADDING MACHINE.

(Application led Apr. 11, 189B.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

EDVARD LE FEVRE, OF ROSENDALE, XVISCONSIN.

ADDING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,252, dated December5, 1899.

Application filed April 11,1898.

To @ZZ whom, it muy concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD LE FEvRE', a citizen of the United States,residing at Rosendale, in the county of Fond du Lac and State ofl/Visconsin, have invented a new and useful PostalCancellation-Recording Machine, of which the followingis aspecification.

My invention relates to adding-machines, and particularly to aregistering device designed especially for keeping account of the valuesof postagestamps canceled by postmasters, as when the salary of thepostmaster depends upon the snm of the values of postage-stamps on mailpassing through his office; and the object in view is to provide asimple, inexpensive, and efficient device capable of manipulation withfacility and adapted to automatically add and expose the result of theaddition of a number of successive amounts registered thereon.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description, and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appende claim.

-In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a registering deviceconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view,partlyin section,o` the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections,respectively, upon the planes indicated by the lines 3 3 and 4 4 of Fig.2. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the paWl-carrying operating-arm.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures of the drawings.

The registering device embodying my invention includes a casing or box10, of which the upper wall is provided with a dial or scale of numbersranging, preferably, from O to 99,7 said dial being traversed by apointer 11, fulcrumed concentric with the dial and provided near itsfree end with a grip 12. The spindle 13 of the pointer is provided abovethe plane of the dial with a pointer-seat, upon which the pointer isseated and from which it is adapted to be removed with facility to allowthe detachment of the fiangednpper wall 10a of the casing from the baseor lower wall 10b. Below the plane of the dial and Within the casing thespindle 13 is fitted with a units-disk 14, provided with an annularseries of units Serial No. 677,201. (No model.)

and tens numerals, raugingfrom 0 to 99, but increasing in the oppositedirection from the numerals of the dial, said disk being revolublyfitted upon the spindle to allow the movement of thespindleindependently thereof, and upon the under side of the disk isarranged an annular series of ratchet-teeth 15 for engagementby a pawl1G, carried by an arm 17, which is lixed to the spindle. A spring 1S isemployed to maintain the pawl 16 in operative engagement with theratchet-teeth. The pawl-carrying arm 17 is preferably fixed to thespindle 13 below the plane of the looselymounted units-disk 14, and thespring-actuated pawl 16 is disposed to engage the teeth 15 on the insideof said disk, whereby any resistance to the forward rotation of thedisk, due to the gravity thereof, will be relieved to a certain extentduring the forward motion of the arm 17 by the pressure ofthe pawl 1G tofacilitate said forward movement of the disk. If preferred, suitablemeans common in the art maybe employed for preventing backward orreverse rotation of the disk 14; but it is obvious that the pawl 16 willslip idly over the ratchet-teeth during the backward or reverse movementof thearm 17, and hence such retaining means may be omitted, andtherefore I have deemed it unnecessary t0 illustrate such retainingmeans in the drawings, the same forming no part of my present invention.Also carried by a spindle 20, which is parallel with the spindle 13 andis mounted in registering bearingsin the upperand lower sides of thecasing, is a h undreds-disk 21, provided with a peripheral series ofspurs or teeth 22 for successive engagement by a spur 23 on theperiphery of the units-disk 14. The spindle 20 of the hu udreds-diskextends above the upper surface ofthe front wall 1OfL of the casing toform a grip by which the hundredsdisk may be turned to Zero whendesired. One numeral each of the units and hundreds disks is exposedthrough the inspection-opening in the front wall of the casing, that ofthe units-disk being indicated at 25 and that of the hundreds-disk at26. Also arranged in the path of backward movement of the pointer 11 isa stop 27.

In operation the amounts of the stamps canceled at different operationsare indicated upon the register by turning the pointer from IOO Zero, asshown in full lines in Fig. 2, to the l number representing the amountof the stamps, as 20. (Shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.) After turningthe pointer to the number indicating the amount of the cancellation thepointer is returned to its normal or zero position. During Jthe forwardmovement of the pointer motion is communicated by the operating-arm 17and the pawl 16 to the disk lf-l, whereby when the forward movement ofthe pointer ceases a number, as 20, corresponding with the position ofthe extremity of the pointer upon 'the dial, is shown in theinspection-opening 25. Upon the return movement ol' the pointer the pawl16 slips idly over the teeth of the disk le. Upon the succeeding forwardmovement of the pointer the disk is again carried forward to exposethrough the inspection'slot a number representingthe sum of the lastnumber indicated through said inspection-opening and the added number,as shown upon the dial by the pointer. In this way successive amountsmay be indicated by means of the pointer upon the dial and aresuccessively added to show the sum in the inspection-opening 25 untilthis sum reaches 95), Whereupon a further movement of the disk lllwillcause the movement of the hundreds-disk through one step to indicate thenumber of hundreds tl'n'ough the inspection-slot 2G. In this way theamounts oi stamps canceled successively may be in dicated` andautomatically added, whereby at the end of the operation the grossamount is indicated through the inspection-openings, and the numberthere indicated may be transferred to a suitable account-book, as in theordinary practice.

esame Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim isln a registering deviceofthe class described, the combination of a casing having upper andlower Walls, of which the former is provided with an exterior dial andadjacent inspectionopenings, a pointer-spindle mounted in the casing,and a pointer carried by said spindle exteriorly of the casing totraverse the dial on the upper wall, a units-disk loosely mounted forrevoluble movement upon the said spindie within the casing and providedat its under side with an annular series of ratchetteeth, anoperating-arm xed to the spindle beneath the plane of said disk, a pawlcarried by said arm 'for engagement with the ratchet-teeth of the disk,a spring for imparting upward pressure to said paWl to maintain itterminally in operative relation with the ratchet-teeth, said disk beingadapted to be advanced in only one direction by movement in acorresponding direction ol' said pointer, and a disk ofhigherdenomination also mounted in the casing and adapted to receive astepby-step motion from the units-disk, each disk being adapted forexposure at one point through one of said inspection-openings in theupper wall of the easing, substantially as specied.

EDXVRD LE FEVRE.

Witnesses:

FRANK Bows, C. E. MCOUMBER.

